Women's soccer falls short in repeat attempt

By Bruce Martinez

The long road to College Cup saw the Santa Clara Broncos come a bad hop short of the finish line. The squad dropped a 2-1 decision in double overtime to the fellow WCC rival Portland Pilots. The loss dropped the Broncos to 20-5-1 on the season and was the last game for Bronco super senior midfielders Aly Wagner and Devvyn Hawkins. The loss ended an 11-game winning streak in the tournament for the Broncos.

Scoring started when Hawkins put home a rebound off the crossbar via a shot off the foot of junior midfielder Chardonnay Poole in the 53rd minute. A mere eight minutes later Portland's Christine Sinclair evened the match with an unassisted goal from the far left side that bent around Santa Clara keeper sophomore Alyssa Sobolik.

At the end of regulation, Portland held a 19-12 advantage in shots. However, the Broncos had been playing with more momentum and seemed destined for victory when Portland senior goalie Lauren Arase, who transferred to Portland from USC in the hopes of winning a national championship, was kicked in the head and had to leave the game. Her replacement was Kim Head, who had only faced one shot in 25 minutes of action on the season.

The end came with a cross from Kristen Moore to Sinclair whose first shot deflected off of Sobolik's shoulder and then off the post before Sinclair shot the ball again, this time into the goal. This ended the season for the Broncos and dashed hopes of a repeat National Championship.

"The main difference between this year's team and last year's in my opinion is that this year it just wasn't meant to be," said junior forward Kristi Candau. "Not to say we didn't deserve it this year but last year was definitely our year. Unfortunately for us, this year was Portland's. You can beat another team, but you can't beat fate and it was just their turn."

When the College Cup honors were announced, Santa Clara was very well represented. Sophomore defender Jessica Ballweg was named the Most Valuable Defensive Player. Wagner and Hawkins, along with junior forward Veronica Zepeda, were also named to the All-Tournament team.

Soon after the title game the accolades began to role in for Hawkins and Wagner. They were both named by Soccer America as two of the 11 national MVPs. Both were also named to the national team for the Four Nations Tournament to be held in China Jan. 23-29.

The outlook for next year's team remains strong despite the loss of Wagner and Hawkins. The team returns sophomore forward Leslie Osborne, Candau, Zepeda and sophomore forward Megan Kakadelas who combined to score 38 goals on the season. The core of the defense also returns strong with Ballweg and Poole returning, along with freshman Micaela Esquivel, and sophomores Jaclyn Campi and Lana Bowen. Sobolik will return to be in the net and she will have strong freshman Erin Pearson to back her up.

Hope does run high for next year among the returning players and there is a very good chance at a return to the College Cup for the Broncos.

"I personally have very high expectations for next year's team," said Candau. "As a senior and a captain it's my responsibility to be a solid leader on this team. I want to end my Santa Clara career with a good season. As long as all of the older players on the team set a good example in their play and leadership, I think that the younger players will get the hang of things quickly and will help us be an amazing team yet again."